Monthly Archives: June 2015

Another important part of this automatic irrigated raised garden project is rainwater gathering. Instead of using expensive house-water, we can gather and use “free” rainwater from the sky. Untreated rainwater is more health for the plants.

I’m using two 55 gallon drums that I was able to find on craigslist for about $20 a drum. I got an extra two drums for my brother.

All four drums fit snugly in my minivan for transport back home.

After getting them home, I need a support structure to put them on. A friend of mine offered me a pre-built structure that his mother was using. I accepted and with a few modifications, this is the result:

This is situated right around the corner from the first raised garden. It will not take much tubing to get the water there. Also, the top of the drums is 7 feet. This will give me about 3 PSI of pressure (assuming 2.3 ft/PSI). That should be enough pressure.

Update: this post has been over a month in the making. During that time I’ve had no rain to fill the drums. I have water now and it works! Part IV we will look into hooking up the Edison and making a schedule.

Quick update on the raised garden project. The first garden bed is built! This is a 6 x 3 ft bed with 5 x 3 ft of growing space. I used cedar outdoor wood and I think it looks pretty nice.

Shortly after building, I did a bit of research on the Mitleider gardening method. In order to do vertical gardening, I need taller posts which I initially thought I would just use for grapes or other vine plants. I may end up redoing the post system or at least modifying it so I can vertically grow my tomatoes and melons in order to maximize space.

This bed is also equipped with an equipment box. This is where most of the auto-irrigation system will go (valves, Edison module, panel charger, energy storage, etc).

Finally I’ve mounted my 10 watt solar panel. After observing, I don’t like this position. It should go on the back pillar to avoid casting shadow on my other solar panels: the plants below.